Fakta publikasjon

The autonomous world reversed

Comparing liberal policy and autonomy in the performing arts

Comparative
studies of cultural policy commonly emphasize the way in which states
treat the autonomy of the arts. Such studies often claim that liberal
states promote autonomy, while social democratic states promote more
external, instrumental values, such as solidarity, universalism and
equality. This article challenges this conception by claiming that in
actual cultural policy-making it is in fact the other way around. Based
on a comparative study of theater policy in England, Norway and the
Netherlands, I find that the focus on artistic autonomy is surprisingly
absent in the liberal state of England, compared to what it is in the
social democratic state of Norway. Conversely, English theaters are more
obliged to work for, and with, the citizens and the community than
theaters in Norway are. In the Netherlands, where recent development in
general policy has headed in a liberal direction, artistic autonomy
actually appears to be increasingly challenged.